‘IT PUT OUT POWERFUL MESSAGES’
FACING THE MONSTERS
For those of us who grew up in the late ’90s and early ’00s, we weren’t playing kiss chase in the playground, we were fighting imaginary vampires and demons. We had main character energy before it was a concept being bandied around on Tiktok, and it was all part and parcel of being a Buffy The Vampire Slayer fan.
Twenty-five years ago, Buffy creator Joss Whedon set out to flip the blonde victim stereotype on its head. Buffy went against everything in the rule book for a protagonist on a supernatural, demon-fighting show, but she resonated with viewers of all genders and all ages thanks to her witty one-liners, emotional vulnerability and general bad-assery. Airing just as the “girl power” slogan of the Spice Girls was in full swing, it simply didn’t occur to teen fans that we couldn’t be as bolshy as Ginger Spice or as strong as Buffy’s roundhouse kick.
It can’t be ignored that, like a lot of shows that started in the ’90s, it has its problematic history. Joss Whedon has come under fire for his behaviour being the exact antithesis of the feminist hero at the centre of his show, but fans won’t let that take away from the powerful messages Buffy put out. The pint-sized punching teen showed us that saving the world at the weekends is sometimes easier than trying to navigate high school. Sarah Michelle Gellar herself once said the show’s monsters were “the metaphors for the horrors of adolescence”.
Episodes ranged from the harrowing ordeal of Buffy losing her mother in The Body, to the iconic and camp musical episode Once More With Feeling.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Celebrating the show’s 21st anniversary in 2018, Sarah Michelle Gellar penned an ode to Buffy. She wrote, “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the anniversary of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is the same week as International Women’s Day. I have always believed that the world is changed by your example, not by your opinion. We have all learned a lot from Buffy, and the best part is, that never ends.” She ended her caption with a quote from the slayer herself: “From now on, we won’t just face our fears, we will seek them out. We will find them and cut their hearts out one by one. There is only one thing on earth more powerful than evil, and that’s us.” ■